Friday, June 24, 2016

Karen King: My First Chick Lit!

Writing
my first Chick Lit

I’m so excited about having my first chick lit ‘I do …or do I’ published. It’s a dream
come true for

me as this a genre I enjoy reading and have always wanted to
write for, but I’ve been too busy writing children’s books for the past thirty
years. Finally, eighteen months ago I took the plunge and decided to have a go.
I’d already got my story idea so set about writing it up. I had to slot it in
with all the other things I do for a living, commissioned writing (including
six picture books for a publisher in India) and teaching writing.

At 75,000 words ‘I do…or do I?’ is the longest book I’ve ever written. Obviously
children’s books are shorter, most of my books have been under 10,000 words,
many under 500. I thought I’d never finish it. There’s a lot involved in
writing a long book. A lot more planning, revising, keeping an eye on timelines,
sequencing, continuity, making sure your characters are consistent and that’s
before you even get started on the plot, subplots, conflicts and resolutions. I
used a lot of post-its and note books to keep a check on it all.

On the plus side, I didn’t have to worry about
vocabulary, sentence structure, the age group of my reader and all the other
things that children’s writers have to consider as well as coming up with a
marketable idea, thinking about where it will fit into the publisher’s list and
writing it up in a pacey way that will grab the young reader straight away.

I have previously had two contemporary romance
novels published, so had some practice, but at 50,000 words each they were
shorter, and my chick lit was lighter, more humorous – I hoped! I angsted a lot
over that book, lost a lot of sleep, thought I’d never make it but somehow I
did. And Accent Press snapped it up. Then they gave me a contract for two more
books. Two more long books of 75k words! I couldn’t believe it. I celebrated,
kept reading the contract to make sure. Then I started plotting and planning,
angsting and worrying – what if they don’t like this book as much as the first?
What if I can’t do it again? But every time I doubted myself I took a
look at the cover for my first book and told myself if I did it once I can do
it again. And I did do it again, book number two has been delivered and I’m
working on book three. Here’s the covers, aren’t they gorgeous?

About the
story

Local journalist
Cassie is getting married to hot-shot lawyer, reliable Timothy and his
'Monster-in-Law' mother Sylvia wants to plan the entire wedding. When Sylvia
books the exclusive ID images to take photographs of the extravagant wedding,
Cassie has no idea what she's walking into. The elusive JM who is the newest
photographer employed just so happens to be Jared, Cassie's first love and ex-fiancée,
who broke off their engagement to follow his life-long dreams.

Jared is back to earn
some cash before jetting off on his next wild adventure. When Cassie is asked
to write an article with top tips and advice for Brides to Be, she jokingly
writes a column depicting her current scenario and a co-worker submits it in
place of the real article.

Cassie's column is
soon making the headlines with readers asking the age old question Who Will She
Choose?

About
Karen:

A member of the Romantic
Novelists' Association, the Society of Authors and the Society of Women Writers
and Journalists, Karen King writes sassy, contemporary romance just right for
reading on the beach.

When she isn’t writing, Karen
likes travelling, watching the ‘soaps’ and reading. Give her a good book and a
box of chocolates and she thinks she’s in Heaven.

4 comments:

Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs I stumble upon on a daily basis. It will always be interesting to read articles from other authors and practice something from their websites...

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We work to enhance and promote the various types of romantic and historical fiction, to encourage good writing in all its many varieties, to learn more about our craft and help readers enjoy it.

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